Spain: The payment of tax debts via direct bank transfer from abroad will be possible

Resolution of January 18, 2021, of the General Directorate of the State Tax Administration Agency, which defines the procedure and conditions for the payment of debts through transfers through collaborating financial entities has been published at the Official Gazette of 4 February 2021.

With effect since the 15^th of March 2021, this resolution introduces the possibility to pay most tax debts via bank transfer. For non-resident companies this constitutes an important novelty since, until now, they could only pay their taxes through a Spanish bank account either of their own of a third party who could make such payment on their behalf.

Among others, this new payment procedure apply to those tax dues resulting from returns which can be electronically filed at the website of the Spanish tax Agency (AEAT). It must be remembered that to this end the taxpayer must be provided with an electronic signature certificate issued by a Spanish service provider homologated by the AEAT is required.

As foreseen in the resolution and subject to implementation, the interface at the AEAT site will include a specific instance where, once the filing process of the corresponding return is completed, the taxpayer will be informed about the payment details, including a payment code to be consigned as the “transfer concept” and the SWIFT-IBAN code of the Spanish bank account where the payment is to be made (AEAT transfer account). Besides, the taxpayer will be required to complete the IBAN code of the bank he will be using to complete the transfer.

Important aspects to consider are the following:

• The payment code provided by the system to be mentioned as “transfer concept” will be valid for one month.

• No transfer will be accepted unless the following conditions are met:

• The net amount transferred must correspond to the exact tax debt of the corresponding tax return. Since any transfer expenses will be charged to the taxpayer, attention will have to be made to the conditions that are applied by the bank he uses to complete the payment.
• The “transfer concept” must be the payment code provided by the AEAT interface.

• The date of entry for discharge purposes (date of discharge) is the one on which the payment appears at the AEAT transfer account, provided that the payment identifier has been correctly validated, and the data collated. In this case, proof of payment may be obtained at the AEAT site. So, in order to avoid penalties, it is important that the taxpayer allows a time margin for possible incidences in the payment process, so the date of discharge does not exceed the dead-line corresponding to the tax return to be paid.